 Martin Sorrell |
WPP boss Martin Sorrell has ended his bid to block Bain Capital's $1.3B takeover of Asatsu-DK, Japan's No. 3 ad agency.
The British ad/PR conglom, owner of a nearly 25 percent stake in ADK, had maintained that the private equity firm's offer had undervalued the assets of the Japanese agency.
Bain announced that WPP has now agreed to withdraw legal proceedings against ADK, pending the successful completion of the tender offer.
It would then discuss an investment by WPP as a non-controlling minoring shareholder, according to a report in the Financial Times.
WPP and ADK had a cross shareholder and business alliance for the past two decades.
ADK plans to sell its investment in WPP, which is valued around $550M and scout for opportunities beyond the Japanese market.
Bain's tender offer for ADK closes Dec. 6.
“We now hope ADK’s other shareholders will recognise the attractive valuation and liquidity opportunity presented in our fair and fully priced offer, and tender their shares,” David Gross-Loh, Bain managing director, said in a statement.
WPP chief Cindy Rose is cutting up to 1,000 jobs by the end of the year, adding to the 11K jobs lost since the start of 2025, according to a report in the Financial Times.
WPP CEO Cindy Rose declares her stabilization plan is "firmly on track" as the company reports a 4.7 percent dip in 1H revenues.
FTI Consulting reported a 2.6 percent drop in Q2 strategic communications revenues to $100M, a shortfall largely due to a $7.4M decline in pass-through revenues.
Omnicom CEO John Wren reported a 7.2 percent rise in Q2 “core operations” to $6B and a 6.1 percent spurt on an organic basis.
Publicis Groupe’s H1 net revenues inched ahead by 1.1 percent to $8.3B. Organic growth hit the 4.7 percent mark.
